The David Blunkett Affair

David Blunkett, the ex-home secretary saw his personal life impinge disastrously on his political career when it emerged he tried to fast track a visa for his lover’s nanny. His now ex-lover, Kimberly Quinn, was a married woman – a glamorous magazine publisher. It’s thought Blunkett embarked on the affair to counteract a heavy workload and lonely personal life. What followed however was a sorry story of paternity tests and political suicide.

Paternity Tests Caused Heartache

Blunkett has said once in an interview that he felt he missed out on his student years, and perhaps the affair was one way of making up for lost time. But the paternity suits and paternity tests that resulted caused heartache for all concerned. Blunkett was divorced when he embarked on the affair but the high profile custody battle left him little option but to quit his job in politics.

The ‘Little Lad’

The tests left him fondly referring to the boy at the centre of the custody battle with Ms Quinn as his ‘little lad’. And there’s no doubt that the fallout from the paternity DNA tests and the son he fathered with Ms Quinn overshadowed his professional career. Blunkett met Ms Quinn when she was in her twenties, married and at a Mayfair nightclub – all adding to a general impression of seediness that would damage his career.

Paternity Tests end Political Career

A TV drama satirised the affair, and it became a juicy topic for tabloids further impacting on Blunkett’s credibility. As well as DNA tests in his personal life, Blunkett was also a director of a DNA testing company, which he stepped down from.
Some believe Blunkett was willing to sacrifice his career in politics for the paternity tests and custody battle for his son. He told the press at one point: “He will want to know not just that his father actually cared enough about him to sacrifice his career, but he will want to know, I hope, that his mother has some regret.”

The impact of the paternity tests however was felt by Ms Quinn’s ex-husband, Stephen Quinn too. Quinn had assumed his first son was his own, not the former Home Secretary’s.

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